Integrating legumes while increasing maize yields – five seasons of co-learning in western Kenya

Sustainable intensification of smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is a key pathway to provide food for the growing population (e.g. SDSN 2013; Vanlauwe et al. 2014). Grain legumes are seen as a central option for sustainable intensification as they fix nitrogen (N) from the air (reducing the need for mineral N fertiliser), are nutritious food and can be more profitable than staple crops such as maize (Giller et al. 2013). Yet adoption of options for sustainable intensification is often limited by knowledge and resource constraints, due to the poverty trap within which smallholder farmers operate (Tittonell and Giller 2013). The objective of this study was to assess the outcomes of a trajectory of five seasons of co-learning, when resource constraints are partly alleviated. This paper focuses on the adoption process oflegumes as part of the intensified maize-legume cropping system, which together comprise the main crop component of the farming systems.